Home and garden DIY ideas

Looking for a DIY project to improve your home or garden? Whether you’re motivated to tackle something big or you just need a small way to enliven your space, allow me to share some clever ideas I’ve spotted online recently.

The first five come from Apartment Therapy and re-nest , Apartment Therapy’s green-design blog.
- Decoupage your ceiling . I’m not sure I’d plaster my ceiling with birds, as you’ll see there, but the sky’s the limit (pun intended) on what images you could paste overhead. The bird tutorial is courtesy of Mr. Peacock .
-Set a table with herbs (by Chelsea Fuss for Project Wedding) .
-Make over a whole room, proving just how powerful a couple cans of paint (plus some furniture) can be.
-Need a bedside table? Paint a ladder and lean it against the wall. It doubles as a bookmark!
-Make a chandelier from tree branches . That $35 project definitely caught my attention since I’ve longed for similar-looking fixtures that cost hundreds of dollars in stores and catalogues.

From Sunset magazine:
-Make an outdoor chandelier from a wire basket, candles and crystals. (Found via Apartment Therapy.)
-Build a soothing outdoor fountain using a pot and a pump.
-Build a potting workbench (free plans included).
-Transform outdated clothes into funky, eye-catching throw pillows .

From Martha Stewart:
-Carve out space in your garage for a mud room .
-Create a central-command area for your home to keep your family organized. Check out this attractive space and the colorful clipboard tutorial that goes with it.
-Go cubic . Transfer your favorite photos to all sides of a wooden cube.
-Frame and display collections of unusual—or not-so-unusual—objects, such as handkerchiefs .

And from my own home … if you can’t afford original art (don’t give up hope—you can often make monthly payments on a piece or you can rent from the MAC’s Art@Work program), hang something big and bold, like a vintage classroom map or a flag. That 48-start flag hanging above my fireplace (see photo at top of post) was a $40 find at the Farm Chicks Antique Show over the weekend.

What’s on your DIY project list? Have any photos to share of projects you’ve recently finished?